What are the limits of the human mind? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly turn the telescope inward exploring sensory perception, dreaming, synesthesia, time, and the astonishing flexibility of the human brain with neuroscientist David Eagleman. Why does time seem to slow down during an emergency? We explore the brain’s flexibility in how it receives and interprets sensory signals. Can you see with your tongue? Eagleman explains how the brain doesn't actually care where information comes from. We explore sensory differences like blind people navigating the world through vibrations on their skin, echolocation, and tactile reading systems like Tadoma, and how the brain repurposes space for what’s needed. Could dreams be the visual cortex defending its territory against a takeover from other senses during sleep? Learn about the transitions your brain makes in modulating sensory data. Are dreams the brain's screensaver? We discuss how the more neurologically plastic the species, the more it dreams. Why don't we remember our dreams? Why does eyewitness testimony fail so dramatically? What does the invisible gorilla experiment reveal about how little of reality we actually perceive? We explore how memory isn't a recorder, it's a reconstruction. Learn about synesthesia, aphantasia, tetrachromacy, and how some of Pixar's best animators turned out to have no visual imagery in their heads at all. We break down time perception and why time seems to slow down in life-threatening situations. David tells us about how he dropped subjects from a 150-foot tower to find out. We explore memory density and why childhood summers felt endless and adult years blur past. Could time perception be the key to understanding and developing treatments for schizophrenia? Plus, the hardest question in all of science: why does it feel like anything to be a brain? Thanks to our Patrons Wynona Pyrtel, BarefootCajun, Jaap Ouwejan, Ananda Mills, Rob Schebel, Ray J, Larry Chan, Steve Pynn, Andy K, Chefscary, Rebecca Tibbs, DucksOnQuack, Deatric Wilson, Dominica Larissa, Amy Morgenthau, 芽美 湯浅, Lisa Jones, Mandie Mack, Noah Henscheid, Ethan Brady, Paul, Scott Brasfield, Alfonso Moreira, Denislav Tsankov, Chris Clawson, Miranda Kagy, Jack Frosty B.B., Rohan A, Kevin Turpin, michelle palmer, SMAYS, Francoise De Larkeen, David, Anita Taesali, Atum Ra, Ty, Joel, Emerson Castaneda, Julie Hendrickson, Mike Bayliff, John Dunn, Julian James, Davit Harutyunyan, Jakub Schmiedberger, Tristian Phillips, Tristian Phillips, Michael Pennywell, Doguhan Uluca, Aislinn P, Andrew Hatton, Misti, WB, Lindsey Walker, Clifton Beasley, Shawn Grider, Patrick Rizio, Neil LaGrace, Brooke, and keith becker for supporting us this week. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction: David Eagleman 03:02 - Seeing With Our Tongues 07:35 - Is Reading Braille the Same as Reading with Vision 13:37 - The Competition Between Senses 22:55 - Gaps in Our Memory 30:47 - Does Synesthesia Make You More Creative? 33:23 - Aphantasia: The Vivid Movie in Your Brain 37:18 - Hallucinations 38:55 - Does Everyone See the Same Colors? 42:34 - Do You See in Slow Motion in an Emergency 47:15 - Why Time Seems to Speed Up as You Grow Older 48:12 - Mental Time Dialation & Neural Time Dialation 50:37 - At-Home Experiment 52:55 - Time Perception & Credit Misattribution 57:27 - Explaining Consciousness Check out our second channel, @StarTalkPlus Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/startalkradio About StarTalk: Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up! © 2026 Curved Light Productions. All rights reserved. STARTALK is a registered U.S. trademark of Curved Light Productions. Curved Light Productions also maintains rights in the A/legs design logo, STARTALK, STARTALK+, STARTALK PLUS in the U.S. and various countries throughout the world, and these and all other associated logos, marks, and trade dress are the property of Curved Light Productions. This video, including all audio, video, graphics, and accompanying materials, is the exclusive property of Curved Light Productions. No part of this video may be reproduced, distributed, publicly performed, transmitted, or used to create derivative works, in whole or in part, in any medium now known or hereafter devised, without the prior express written permission of Curved Light Productions. Unauthorized use, including reuploading, re-editing, or incorporation into third-party content, is a violation of United States and international copyright law and will be enforced. For licensing and permissions inquiries: licensing@startalkmedia.com #StarTalk #NeildeGrasseTyson